Accessible only on horseback in the mountains of northern Venezuela are several family-owned cocoa plantations. Here I discovered a limited supply of truly exquisite cocoa beans. We are the first to make a single-origin chocolate from these precious beans. Our vintage process gently accentuates their finest flavours. The result is a remarkable chocolate with flavor notes of apricot and marshmallow that you will find enchanting.

Amano – Montanya—Chocolate Review
Rating:
90.8% out of
100
based on
2 reviews.

Amano – Montanya

Amano, so long a company flirting with greatness but always it would seem at the brink, finally gets it entirely right with this chocolate from the heights of Venezuela. It doesn’t specify exact origin but one can deduce that it’s probably around Merida. In any case, this is the chocolate that finally delivers the depth as well as the complexity, the element that had always been missing from Amano in the past. Here is a big, bold chocolate with a whole range of flavours that will truly satisfy. If this bar is any indication of the future of Amano, it augurs very well indeed.

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Reviews

Alex Rast: 5-Jun-2009

SCORES

Score/10

Weight

Aroma:

10%

Look/snap:

5%

Taste:

35%

Melt:

5%

Length:

15%

Opinion:

30%

Total/100:

100%

INFO

Best before:

Batch num:

Source:

Supplied by:

This bar looks a little darker out of its box than Amano’s usual – obviously the beans are very different in genetics. Not that this affects the finish which is still first-rate other than a bit of swirling on the back and a hint of scuffing in transit.

Aroma is rather mild: this does not look to be the boldest chocolate, with a spicy, cherry initial character and strong vanilla. Interesting hints of woody, treacle, and tea, however, lend complexity and interest and prevent the impression from being too generic.

The aroma does not hint in any way, though, at the extraordinary flavour which comes on with far greater strength. The immediate impression is fruity, cherry and redcurrant, before moving to creamy. Next comes a lighter, melon and apple hint before the flavour takes a turn into the deeper and richer, moving into winey with suggestions of chile. There is a lot going on here but it seems to progress evenly and predictably, and the strength really shines at every stage.

Texture is perhaps slightly below Amano’s usual standard, smooth and creamy but not amazing, rather similar to Amedei. Again, though, this can’t take anything away from a chocolate that maps out a completely new flavour terrain. Never has a chocolate managed to capture both bold and fresh notes so well or with such harmonised balance. Amano is starting to come into their own and we should all hope for more chocolates like this. It’s a demonstration of both origin and style, a chocolate that brings out the best both in the bean and in the manufacturer.